There have only been unconfirmed reports of krakens. Some say that they're just the figments of the wild imaginations of drunken sailors, similar to wild reports of "mermaids" by sailors who have been out at sea too long, which turn out to just be sea cows. Others adamantly insist that in a world where dragons once stalked the skies, krakens might live in the deep oceans. If krakens do really exist, they are extremely rare.

When the Small council meets to discuss the progress of the War of the Five Kings, Varys tells the attendees that a kraken had been seen off the Fingers. It reportedly attacked an Ibbenese whaler ship and pulled it under. Hearing that, Tywin Lannister scoffs that Dragons and krakens do not interest him, regardless of the number of their heads.

Exact descriptions of what "krakens" look like in real-life legends vary, but the mythological kraken in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels is specifically said to resemble a giant squid.

There is some debate over the correct way to pronounce the word "kraken" in real-life, and this has carried over into the TV series. In Season 3's "And Now His Watch is Ended", Olenna Tyrell pronounces it as "Krah-ken", with the hard "K" sound in the second syllable. In Season 4's "The Mountain and the Viper", Ramsay Snow pronounces it as "Crack-en", with the hard "K" sound in the first syllable. "Kray-ken" with a hard A is also sometimes heard in real life. The actual word "Kraken" is of Old Scandinavian/Norwegian origin, and is closer to "Krah-ken", but both the "Crack-en" and "Kray-ken" variants have appeared after the word was incorporated into English.[2]